Yes, That's Right, It's A Seeing-Eye Horse

摘要

When I was 17, a routine visit to the doctor changed my life. My doctor told me I had retinitis pigmentosa, an incurable eye disease that would render me completely blind by the time I reached middle age. Every year thereafter, I felt my disease closing in. First I couldn't drive, then I couldn't read; I knew it was only a matter of time before I was engulfed in perpetual darkness. By four years ago, my sight had deteriorated so much that I decided to enter a school for the blind to learn how to live with my disability-how to cook, how to read Braille, how to make the most of my other senses. During my stay I realized that many of the other students kept themselves isolated, hesitating even to leave the safety of the dorms. That really scared me. I desperately wanted to keep contact with the world. But I was shocked at how few options I had. I didn't want to struggle with a white cane, and I couldn't bear the idea of having a guide dog because of the grief I had experienced when my beloved pet dog died 10 years before. I knew I'd feel the loss of an animal I had relied on for my independence even more acutely.